Exterieur van het Springfield-gebouw van Uppingham School before 1870

Editor: Here we have a rather serene photographic print, "Exterieur van het Springfield-gebouw van Uppingham School," taken by Charles Drake before 1870. It’s… quite brown, really, with an image of a large building nestled into some trees, kind of hazy around the edges. It feels very… historical and institutional. What do you see in this piece? Curator: You've nailed that immediate feeling, that sepia-toned sense of the past. For me, it’s less about the *building* building and more about that moment caught in time, a kind of whisper across the decades. The landscape itself becomes a character, doesn’t it? This very stillness hints at a thousand untold stories playing out within those walls, the laughter, the hushed study sessions, the scrapes on knees… Editor: A character, yes, I like that! You almost feel as though if you stare long enough, the schoolboys will appear in the frame. What’s particularly striking about Drake’s approach here, or photography in general back then? Curator: Back then, capturing *anything* like this was almost magical, wasn’t it? A feat of alchemy blending light and chemicals. The long exposure times would require everything to be still as a sleeping cat – and the fact he achieved this detail with that technology, and moreover on a windy day is nothing short of wondrous. It reminds me a little of my old school; you see the weight of history in these types of shots don’t you? Did it evoke the same thing in you? Editor: It definitely made me think about the evolution of educational spaces, especially with that text opposite the photograph. How different the school looks back then compared to how things are now. So what have we learned today? Curator: Indeed. It's all about atmosphere – that the photograph, more than the building itself, holds a mood, and then allows to bring it back with you in to the present, which really is so very fascinating.. I think Drake did far more than simply documenting a building. He captured the breath of a whole era, in his print, almost like a magic trick really!